Ancient Egyptian Statue Queen Meritaten Head Akhenaten 1365-1320 Bc

CAD $96.610 BidsUnsold, CAD $51.52 Shipping, 30-Day Returns

Seller:the-best-products(124)100%,
Location:Luxor,
Ships to: Worldwide,
Item:232742302219ANCIENT EGYPTIAN STATUE QUEEN MERITATEN HEAD AKHENATEN 1365-1320 BC Akhenaten was a Ruler of Egypt during the period known as the 18th Dynasty. He ascended to the throne as Amenhotep IV, succeeding his father Amenhotep III. Akhenaten's brief reign, only about 16 years, happened at a difficult time in Egyptian history and many scholars maintain that Akhenaten was responsible for this decline, but evidence suggests that it had already started. Akhenaten, possibly in a move to lessen the political power of the Priests, introduced the worship of one god, the Aten, or Sun disk. This meant that the Pharaoh, not the priesthood, was the sole link between the population and the Aten which effectively ended the power of the various temples.It is interesting to note that when Akhenaten's successors, the generals Ay and Horemheb re established the temples of Amun they selected their priests from the military, enabling the Pharaoh to keep tighter controls over the religious orders. The cult of the Aten is considered by some to be a predecessor of modern monotheism. Not a Pharaoh to do things by half, when Akhenaten established his new religion he built an entire city dedicated to the Aten complete with a necropolis and royal tomb. This city was Akhetaten, the Horizon of the Aten and at the peak of Akhenaten's reign over 20,000 people lived there. The city was built in middle Egypt, on a site thought to have been chosen as it was not tainted by the worship of other gods. After the death of Akhenaten the city was abandoned, and the old religions which had been suppressed quickly re-established their control over Egypt. It is thought that this return was started by Smenkhkare, and completed by Tutankhaten who changed his name to Tutankhamun and moved his capital from Akhetaten to Memphis. Akhenaten is perhaps unfairly not credited with being a particularly successful Pharaoh. Records seem to indicate that he allowed Egyptian influence wane but this may not be true. These ideas are based on the famous Amarna letters found in Akhetaten in many of which Egyptian vassal cities plead for assistance, but no replies are preserved. As there is no surviving record of Egyptian territory being lost at this time it is possible that Akhenaten was merely skillfully playing one city against the other to achieve through diplomacy what would otherwise require military force. Later Pharaohs attempted to erase all memories of Akhenaten and his religion. Much of the distinctive art of the period was destroyed and the buildings dismantled to be reused. Many of the Talitat blocks from the Aten temples in Thebes were reused as rubble infill for later pylons where they were rediscovered during restoration work and reassembled. It is interesting to note that this destruction was directed at Akhenaten personally and not the Aten itself which in later dynasties it returned to it's original minor position in Egyptian religionCondition: As Shown In Pictures, Provenance: Luxor, Material: Stone